On Dec 8, 3:32 am, Carl Banks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Dec 7, 9:23 am, MonkeeSage <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > A quick question about how python parses a file into compiled > > bytecode. Does it parse the whole file into AST first and then compile > > the AST, or does it build and compile the AST on the fly as it reads > > expressions? (If the former case, why can't functions be called before > > their definitions?) > > Python creates certain objects at compile time but doesn't bind them > to names in the modulespace until run time. > > Python could--and many other languages do--automatically bind these > objects to names upon import. Python doesn't do it because it sees a > module as "code to be executed" rather than a "list of global object > definitions". > > Something like this would be awkward if Python bound the names at > import time: > > if X: > def a(): do_this() > else: > def a(): do_that() > > Which one gets bound to a? > > To do something similar in C would require preprocessor macros (ick). > > Carl Banks
Gotcha. Thanks again everyone for your answers. Regards, Jordan -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
